Keyword: codeofsilence

The latest example of cellphone video vindicating someone from false charges is a doozy. It comes from Washington Parish, La., and WWL TV. One of the worst days of Douglas Dendinger’s life began with him handing an envelope to a police officer. In order to help out his family and earn a quick $50, Dendinger agreed to act as a process server, giving a brutality lawsuit filed by his nephew to Chad Cassard as the former Bogalusa police officer exited the Washington Parish Courthouse. The handoff went smoothly, but Dendinger said the reaction from Cassard, and a group of officers...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Alton Nolen, the Muslim convert who recently beheaded an innocent coworker at a Vaughan's Food factory, was charged with three felony counts this morning at a Cleveland County Courthouse in Norman, Oklahoma. Nolen faces one count of first degree murder, one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and a final count of assault with a deadly weapon. At a press conference this morning, Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said that the gruesome attack was race-related and not a religious act, but he did admit that Nolen was infatuated with beheadings, which was evident from his facebook...

A Miami cop pulled someone over last month on a routine traffic stop, but the ensuing mess resulted in an internal investigation because it turns out the man this police officer pulled over was actually a higher-ranking officer in the same police department. Officer Marcel Jackson pulled over Lieutenant David Ramras and things got intense really quickly. In a video captured on Jackson’s GoPro camera, you can see them fighting and Jackson forcing Ramras to the ground. Other officers nearby run up to....(video at link)

Campbell Police Chief Tim Kelemen is on paid leave while authorities investigate whether he broke the law when he used a tea party activist's information online. Board members during a special meeting Thursday voted unanimously to take action against the embattled chief after public outcry that he lost credibility and trust from many in the small community. It's a routine move when an employee is under investigation and not an indication Kelemen is guilty of a crime, said his attorney Jim Birnbaum. "It's neither surprising nor something we don't understand," he said.

CBS 7 has obtained the two arrest affidavits for Odessa Police officer Salvador Becerra. In the affidavits, investigating Texas Ranger Brian Burney states on two separate traffic stops, Officer Becerra brought a female back to his patrol car, asked her breast size and proceeded to touch her breasts underneath her bra after a little bit more conversation. The most recent incident occurred on March 9th and soon after the female reported a complaint to OPD. The affidavit states Officer Becerra said "if she made an exception then they would not go to jail" since she released to him that she...

Trooper They Needed to "Stick Together" Before DUI Arrest: FHPA Miami-Dade Police officer pleaded with a Florida Highway Patrol trooper that they needed to "stick together" before he was arrested for driving under the influence during a traffic stop in Plantation, authorities said. Officer Albert Steven Coriat, 40, was arrested back on Feb. 16 following the stop on Florida's Turnpike near mile marker 59, according to an FHP report released Monday. According to the report, the trooper spotted a gray vehicle trying to make an illegal U-turn and stopped the car. When the trooper approached the car, he saw the...

when he was supposed to be looking for drugs A police dog in Mississippi has been fired from the force, after finding playing with soda cans more interesting than drugs busts. Police in Gulfport will be sending the Belgian Malinois dog back to the training facility he came from as Fred was found to be 'slacking off'. Just two years ago, the city of Gulfport paid $12,000-$13,000 for Fred which included training at a facility in Kaplan, Louisiana. Fred was trained at K-9 Unlimited in Kaplan, a school thought to be excellent for turning out well-trained and hardworking dogs. Chief...

Whistleblower cop Frank Serpico remembers the night he took a bullet to the face — even if the NYPD continues to ignore it. One day after the 43rd anniversary of his near-fatal shooting, Serpico, 77, said he has yet receive his long-delayed Medal of Honor certificate, which typically accompanies the medal. Serpico was given the NYPD’s highest award, the Medal of Honor, in 1972. But the medal wasn’t given at a ceremony; it was dispensed over a counter top, he recalled. In a statement, he said was tired of “waiting for the NYPD to overcome their pettiness and animosity.”

What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie? Before you answer, you should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house.

An 11-year-old autistic Middleboro boy’s claim that he was sexually assaulted by another youth inside his foster home was dismissed as “consensual” sex by child welfare officials charged with protecting him, in a stunning case the boy’s family and school officials charge was plagued by missteps by the embattled Department of Children and Families. According to DCF investigative reports, police reports and letters, the boy — then 11 but with the cognitive ability of a 5- or 6-year-old, his father told police — was allegedly sexually assaulted by another youth in the foster home while the parents slept during the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Massachusetts hospital police official linked to the so-called cannibal cop case pleaded guilty on Thursday in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to kidnap and kill women. New Hampshire man Richard Meltz, 65, faces up to five years in prison on each of two conspiracy counts when he is sentenced later this year. The plea deal came just weeks before Meltz and two co-defendants were scheduled to go to trial on charges that they hatched a kidnap plot online. The case stems from an investigation into New York police officer Gilberto Valle, whose trial and conviction...

More than 100 retired New York City cops, firefighters and correction officers were charged today with falsely claiming to be suffering from depression and anxiety as a result of the 9/11 terror attacks, New York prosecutors said today. The alleged scam won awards up to $500,000 for the uniformed personnel and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, according to the indictment. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said the suspects "cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of Sept 11th... dishonoring the first responders." Police Commissioner William Bratton said, "The retired members of the NYP indicted in this case have...

The end of 2013 brought a measure of closure to a long-running Milwaukee police scandal, though some say the officer — and his cohorts — who repeatedly and illegally shoved his fingers up black male suspects’ anal cavities got off with a light sentence considering the flagrant nature of his abuses. The ringleader was identified as officer Michael Vagnini, a white man who routinely targeted black males as young as fifteen for sadistic — and blatantly illegal — anal searches. One victim said that another officer put a gun to his head while Vagnini administered a choke hold, touched his...

A former New Jersey Transit police officer who retired on disability after stapling his own hand is the subject of renewed scrutiny after a video emerged, showing him repeatedly firing a sniper rifle at a gun range. In Christopher Onesti’s 2008 application for a disability pension, doctors said he was “permanently and totally disabled” because he would have trouble operating his service weapon and performing other police duties. His injuries stem from a firearms certification class two years earlier, where Onesti accidentally fired a staple into his non-shooting hand while preparing to attach a paper target to some cardboard. The...

Eighteen current or former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials have been indicted in five separate criminal cases in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of abuse and misconduct inside L.A. County jails. The four grand jury indictments unsealed Monday and one criminal complaint allege that deputies beat jail inmates and visitors without justification, unjustly detained people and conspired to obstruct a federal investigation into misconduct at the Men's Central Jail. Sixteen of the defendants were arrested Monday and are expected to be arraigned this afternoon in federal court.

Fifty years after he became a household name, Chicagoan Jack Ruby continues to baffle historians and millions of American citizens who want to know why he did what he did on Nov. 24, 1963. Americans still reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy watched in horror, live on television, as Ruby fired a shot at point blank range into assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, as he was being transferred from Dallas Police headquarters to the Dallas County Jail. For decades, speculation has swirled over whether Ruby's crime was that of a lone gunman, or part of a more sinister...

A state trooper accused of triggering a three-car crash on Route 1 in Revere that smashed up a cruiser and put an on-duty trooper in the hospital has been suspended indefinitely without pay today, state police announced. Trooper Shawn D’Amato, 43, who authorities said told EMTs he had smoked crack within an hour of yesterday's crash, was arraigned in his Massachusetts General Hospital bed yesterday on charges of drunken and drugged driving, negligent operation; and failure to change lanes for an emergency vehicle. EMTs also observed "apparent track marks on (D'Amato's) arms, suggesting intravenous drug use," Jake Wark, spokesman for...

An off-duty, undercover police detective was arrested as fallout from a burst of motorcyclist mayhem reached a new level, with investigators saying the off-duty officer was shown on video hitting and kicking an SUV before bikers attacked its driver. Wojciech Braszczok, who was off-duty when he joined a motorcycle rally that spiraled into violence, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. He surrendered Tuesday to face riot and criminal mischief charges, New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy said. There was no response to phone messages left with Braszczok's attorney, Phil Karasyk. He had previously said the 10-year NYPD veteran only...

BERKELEY, CA -- A truck driver was beaten within an inch of his life by California Highway Patrol for not signing a traffic ticket that he could not read. The driver, who broke no laws, was beaten so badly that he woke up in a trauma hospital. Olegs Kozacenko, a local resident originally from Russia, was pulled over and cited by police for allegedly driving too many hours in one day. Kozacenko refused to sign the ticket because he had not or could not read it. CHP Officers didn't take kindly to the driver's refusal to sign. Two officers, one...

A man who was brutally stabbed by Brooklyn subway slasher Maksim Gelman two years ago had his negligence case against the city dismissed in court yesterday, despite the fact that two transit officers had locked themselves in a motorman's car only a few feet from him at the time of the attack. Gelman stabbed Joseph Lozito in the face, neck, hands and head on an uptown 3 train in February 2011, after fatally stabbing four people and injuring three others in a 28-hour period. Lozito, a father of two and an avid martial arts fan, was able to tackle Gelman...

Very bad boys! When Detroit citizens found themselves held up at gunpoint by officers who demanded their valuables, they thought they were impersonators. But they were wrong. Some Detroit police officers are being accused of robbing citizens at gun point, in uniform. So what do you do if you are pulled over and don’t believe the officer has good intentions? Local police have issued a statement saying that you have permission not to stop if you don’t believe a real police officer is trying to pull you over. They say to call 911 and ask a dispatcher for assistance. But...

Tuesday, dash cam video surfaced of an Iowa State Trooper pursuing a speeding black Chevy SUV on Highway 20 between Cedar Falls and Fort Dodge, back in April. In an audio recording, you can hear DCI Special Agent Larry Hedlund call a state dispatcher for help in pulling over the SUV that he was going a "hard 90." State Patrol started a pursuit, but backed off when they learned the SUV was being driven by a fellow officer and Governor Terry Branstad was a passenger. Five days later the DCI put Hedlund on administrative leave after he complained to his...

19-year-old Kendrec McDade was shot multiple times by police in Pasadena last March while fleeing. Cops continued to shoot when they mistook their own shots for shots from the suspect. Police say they believed McDade had a gun based on his behavior during the foot chase (holding his waistband) and on a 911 call reporting as much. The 911 caller, Oscar Carillo, was arrested on an involuntary manslaughter charge a month after the shooting after admitted to lying about being robbed at gunpoint in order to elicit a faster police response. Federal immigration authorities also asked that he be detained...

At a pre-trial hearing on May 28, the attorney for accused murderer George Zimmerman, Mark O'Mara, slipped a time bomb into the public record that no one in the major media seemed to notice. It had to do with a homeless man, and the relationship between that man and the victim of Zimmerman's alleged crime, Trayvon Martin. O'Mara's allusion had particular resonance in this case because Zimmerman first surfaced publicly in Sanford, Florida, in a case involving a homeless man. As it happened, in December 2010, a police lieutenant's son named Justin Collison sucker-punched a black homeless man named Sherman...

A 20-year-veteran of the Waltham Police Department who hit it big with a $1 million lottery jackpot in 2011 is facing a child pornography charge ­after he admitted to the FBI that he sent and received ­obscene images of young girls online, according to officials and court records. *** Manganelli wrote in the same message that he recently wrestled with “my little one” and touched her inappropriately, according to the complaint. “I think she likes it, and she didn’t get mad like in the past,” he wrote, according to one ­excerpt. It was not clear whom he was referring to.

MOUNT HOREB, Wis. - A Mount Horeb police officer arrested on suspicion of sexual assault of a child in Madison has resigned, according to the Mount Horeb police department. Dennis P. Jenks, 44, told police he tried to confirm the age of the 14-year-old boy he admits to having sexual contact with, according to a criminal complaint. Madison police arrested Jenks at his home in the 6600 block of Raymond Road on Madison's far west side Feb. 13. Jenks was on unpaid suspension during the investigation. He was a lieutenant and had been with the department since 2000. The criminal...

Omaha police displayed an unbridled street gang brazenness when they chased a man who was video recording them abusing his brother into a private home, confiscating his phone and arresting him to ensure their actions would never see the light of day. However, another citizen captured the entire incident on video from a second-floor window, ensuring at least the façade of an internal investigation.

American television nertworks, Fox News Channel among them, have decided that the attempted assasination of a leading critic of Islam in an American ally is unworthy of attention, so we must look northward for our information. Danish historian and journalist Lars Hedegaard was interviewed by Canadian Sun TV's Michael Coren for the third time since Hedegaard survived an assassination attempt in early February, ostensibly for his criticism of Islamic supremacism, and was forced into protective seclusion. During this interview (Monday 3/18/13), Hedegaard observed, Anyone who stands up and criticizes Islam is fair game. It's like Mao said, "Kill one and...

Las Vegas Township Constable John Bonaventura will not face criminal charges related to his arrest last week on suspicion of driving under the influence, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said. In a statement, Wolfson said that although Bonaventura’s preliminary breath test showed he was over the legal blood-alcohol limit when he was pulled over Feb. 12, that test is not admissible in court. An arrest report indicates he registered a level of 0.099 on that test. A second, admissible breath test showed Bonaventura’s blood-alcohol level at 0.069, below the legal limit of 0.08. That test was administered at the...

Serving and former US Navy SEALs have slammed President Barack Obama for taking the credit for killing Osama bin Laden and accused him of using Special Forces operators as 'ammunition' for his re-election campaign. The SEALs spoke out to MailOnline after the Obama campaign released an ad entitled 'One Chance'. In it President Bill Clinton is featured saying that Mr Obama took 'the harder and the more honourable path' in ordering that bin Laden be killed. The words 'Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?' are then displayed.

Two teachers, including a former teacher of the year, are suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, claiming they were fired for reporting suspected sex abuse involving the principal and a seventh grade girl. Chanell Morello and Lynn Hoffman immediately contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Miami Archdiocese after the student made Morello aware of an incident allegedly involving St. Anthony Catholic School principal Norma Kramer.

DALLAS — Dallas will keep $2,000 found by a teenager in a parking lot last February. The money will go into the city's general fund — not back to Plano high school student Ashley Donaldson, who found the cash in an envelope at the Pavillion Shopping Center in North Dallas. "I don't regret making the decision I did," she said. "I feel proud of myself for giving the money back. It's one of the biggest decisions of my life." The 15-year-old Shepton High School student spotted the money on the ground and took it to a nearby Chase Bank. Over...

DAYTON -- The Dayton Police Department is lowering its testing standards for recruits. It's a move required by the U.S. Department of Justice after it says not enough African-Americans passed the exam. Dayton is in desperate need of officers to replace dozens of retirees. The hiring process was postponed for months because the D.O.J. rejected the original scores provided by the Dayton Civil Service Board, which administers the test. Under the previous requirements, candidates had to get a 66% on part one of the exam and a 72% on part two. The D.O.J. approved new scoring policy only requires potential...

William Scott Ritter Jr., a former United Nations weapons inspector who gained renown for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, contends his online sexual encounters with teenage girls were only fantasy. Nearly two years ago, Ritter, of Delmar, watched his computer screen reveal that an anonymous person who had been exchanging sexually charged messages with him for 80 minutes was not a 15-year-old girl. It was a cop from a small town in northeast Pennsylvania, alone in his station house and trolling the Internet for suspected child predators. Ryan Venneman, a detective for the Barrett Township...

BOISE, Idaho — As many as 15 church members who knew several months before authorities did that a Boise police officer had molested children will face no criminal charges for failing to report the crimes, Idaho authorities say. The Ada County Sheriff's Office says members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are protected by Idaho's clergy privilege law. Police said Stephen R. Young confessed his crimes to church officials in January, but the crimes didn't become public until March. Young attended an LDS church in Eagle. SNIP Court records say Young admitted molesting four children, ages 1...

A just-released biography of King Carl Gustaf – The Unwilling Monarach – claims that he "frequently visited Mafia-run nightclubs to partake in wild orgies when he was a younger man" as reported by Gavin Reilly for The Journal. Good thing no U.S. politicians ever subjected themselves to black mail by attending Mafia-linked sex clubs, right? Although, in 1975 the NYDA and NYPD initiated an investigation dubbed Operation Together which, among other things, was looking into mob control over gay bars, several murders of gay club owners, drug trafficking at gay bars, and underage boy sex rings, and just as law...

A police officer's most powerful weapon isn't a gun, it’s the badge. The badge commands respect and demands a code of conduct for those who wear it. But what should be done when officers violate the codes they've sworn to uphold? Mill Creek Police Department Mill Creek Police Chief Bob Crannell faced that question when allegations surfaced earlier this year that two of his patrol officers were having secret sexual rendezvous. The incidents happened at an abandoned house, in a nature preserve, and at a construction site - all while on duty. "I was very surprised,” said Chief Crannell. Both...

A Pennsylvania teen who stored intimate photos of herself on her cell phone — but never e-mailed or shared them with anyone other than her longtime boyfriend — settled her federal privacy case against high school officials who had seized the phone without a warrant and turned it over to prosecutors. Still unsettled, however, is the question of how far educators can go when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to keep sexually explicit images, audio and text from reaching the eyes and ears of minors while on school grounds. "I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the...

Rene Lozano Jr. once lost control of his patrol car while chasing a traffic violator. The vehicle slammed into a utility pole, fatally injuring a rookie officer riding with him. A bullet narrowly missed another officer's head when Lozano's pistol accidentally discharged. He was the passenger in a stolen Mercedes-Benz driven by a friend. The bolt cutters used to steal the car were stashed under the seat. And he once was fired for making false statements about his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated, a case that ultimately was dismissed because the arresting officer was unable to testify. That...

CHICAGO -- The idea seemed simple though bold: Call reputed gang leaders to a meeting with top police and federal prosecutors and deliver an ultimatum to end killings in the nation's third-largest city. But Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding a so-called "gang summit" last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime. Among the chief complaints: that Weis himself was at the meeting, that the department should instead be adding more officers on the streets and that gangs won't take the message...

A longtime criminal court judge whom colleagues hailed as a stickler for the law resigned abruptly after authorities discovered a cleavage-heavy porn cache on his work computer during a routine system check, according to a published report. James Gibbons, a highly regarded former prosecutor, was on paternity leave after having fathered a child with a legal aid attorney 16 years his junior when authorities found the stash and seized his computer, reports the Daily News. "There was a lot of porn on his computer – all young women," an investigator told the paper. "Lots of crotch and cleavage shots." The...

It's no secret that HCC and its police department are going through some tough times. Well, throw another log on the fire. Two HCC employees have filed a lawsuit against the college claiming that officials authorized hidden cameras in a room used by female police officers to change in and out of their uniforms. "The hidden cameras' location reveal the intention behind their installation was not security," the federal lawsuit states, "but fit more in line with spying for spying's sake or designed to please the prurient interest" of those watching and listening to the videos. HCC security officer Alfreda...

Officers with the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant Friday, seizing marijuana plants from the home of Poplar, Mont., Police Chief Chad Hilde. Seized during the search were several suspected marijuana plants and materials alleged to be used in the growth of the plants. Deputies are currently getting an arrest warrant for Hilde through the Roosevelt County Attorney's Office... the search was part of the department’s Operation New Beginning launched in spring 2009 to keep illegal drugs out of the community.

Late one night in October, a 17-year-old on a bike was chased by a police officer in a cruiser. When the boy refused to stop, the officer aimed his Taser out the driver's window and fired. The boy fell off the bike and the cruiser ran over him, killing him.

A Miami-Dade judge has decided to drop the felony charge facing a former cop who is on trial for killing his K-9 companion. Allen Cockfield faced prison time if convicted of killing a police dog, which is a third degree felony. Cockfield, a 25-year veteran of the Miami-Dade police force, is accused of choking and then kicking Duke the K-9 repeatedly during an obedience training session in 2006. The two had been partners for six months before the incident happened. The judge ruled Cockfield didn't intend to kill Duke, despite his violent actions. The former cop still faces animal cruelty...

For committing an act of pure decency, three black women are being ostracized by many other black people. • On the night of June 29, Delores Keen, Renee Roundtree and Rose Dodson rushed outside Keen's apartment after they heard gunshots. They discovered two Tampa police officers, David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab, lying together on the ground. The officers had been shot. Dontae Morris, a 24-year-old black ex-convict, would be charged in the shootings.

A Stoughton cop has resigned after hitting a strip joint on duty to try and meet "the world’s smallest porn star," putting an unapproved laser scope on his gun and lying to investigators, the town’s police chief told the Herald today. Officer Richard P. Bennett, 28, has stepped down after five officers reported he left his patrol to go to Alex’s gentleman’s club to meet "Bridget the Midget," a 3-foot, 9-inch tall porn star, Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany said. Bennett, who was honored by the department in June for his work in helping catch an accused killer, also installed...